There is no requirement for home educated pupils to have any specific qualifications, but if parents wish for their child to take exams they can sit them as private candidates.
A private candidate is someone who:
- enters for exams through an exam board approved school, but is not enrolled as a student there
- is self-taught, home-educated or has private tuition with a tutor or studies through a distance learning provider
Deciding on subjects and qualifications
You can find specifications (syllabuses) and other subject information including past papers and mark schemes on exam board’s websites, for example:
- Qualifications Pearsons (Edexcel)
- AQA
- OCR
As a private candidate, it is up to you to read the subject specifications and to be aware of the requirements. You should:
- check that the syllabus studied is the same as the exam offered, for example you don’t want to be studying an Edexcel syllabus and sitting an AQA exam
- speak to the exams officer to find or confirm the correct exam code for the exam you wish to enter - some schools may only offer certain exam boards or subjects
- agree the cost of exams - any invigilation costs and know what information is required and by when to complete exam entry - ask for a confirmation email or letter
These processes need to be completed and agreed well in advance to allow the exams officer time to process your entry. For example, around the middle of February is the deadline for exam entries for most boards for June exams. You should contact schools well before this date.
Sitting GCSEs or iGCSEs
There are a few GCSEs that cannot be sat easily as an external candidate – Art, Chemistry (and double Science), Languages, Dance, Drama, Catering – anything that has a practical element. In this scenario, the majority of Elective Home Educated (EHE) pupils will look to sit iGCSEs which are the equivalent.
GCSEs cost around £200 per exam.
Alternatives to GCSEs and iGCSEs
Functional Skills are quite often studied instead of maths and English GCSE. The benefits of these are the exams can be sat at home online, although there is still a significant cost.
Level 2 functional skills is the same standard as a 9-4 GCSE, although the curriculum is much narrower and so it is not quite equivalent. If the young person is looking to study a college course, it is important they check the qualifications requirements of the course, and if the college will accept Functional Skills instead of GCSEs.
There are also a host of other qualifications such as BTECs, Cambridge Nationals, NCFE, Open University certificates, and UAL qualifications.
Exam centres for private candidates
Parents are responsible for contacting schools that have agreed to act as exam centres. This process can take some time. You can use more than one centre, but the student's unique candidate code - has to be used for the same exam board.
Not all exams are open to private candidates. A school may allow the private candidate to enter for written papers, but not for controlled assessment or spoken tests or the exam board may not offer that exam to private candidates - for example, AQA 8700 English Language (new specification) due to spoken content.
You might want to ask the school that your child was deregistered from if they would act as an exams centre for your child, particularly if the deregistration was recent.
Schools that act as exam centres for Summer 2025:
- Eden Education
- Eduqas
- KT Tuition
- The Nelson Thomlinson School
- William Howard School
- The Queen Katherine School
Access arrangements at exam centres
You should let the centre know if there are any access arrangements your child needs when putting them forward for the exam. This is a conversation to be had early on between you and the centre, as there are deadlines for applications for access arrangements.
As a home educated pupil, there would need to be considerable evidence for the need for access arrangements, as the Special Educational Needs Coordinator (SENCO) would not have first hand knowledge of your child's abilities.
Evidence can be gathered in many ways, including health letters, EHCPs (as long as they’re up to date) and recent test scores. There are various reading tests you can do online for free to work out reading speed.
Career support
We have paid a licence fee to allow all home educated learners to access the U-Explore website with a registration code ‘HOMEED’.
Register on the U-Explore website
Careers advice for young people from the age of 13
On behalf of Cumberland Council Inspira provides careers information advice and guidance for Electively Home Educated (EHE) young people from the Autumn term of Y11. More general careers advice from the age of 13 can be found on the web page below.
Contact us
We are happy to discuss your decision or answer any questions if you contact us directly.